Category Archives: Environment

Don Corrigan at Rocky Falls. Photo by Emery Styron

When it comes to the environment and the outdoors, there are very dark clouds casting shadows now. They will not clear – even with the departure of  EPA’s Scott Pruitt, the most bizarre “protector of the environment” ever.

Despite Pruitt and Company, there are silver linings on all the dark clouds. Just when you think the push for more mining and drilling in pristine places is the last straw, you find encouragement in stories about — what else, the coming demise of the plastic straw.

That’s right. Starbucks, American Airlines and several hotel chains have announced that they are phasing out plastic straws. The straws make up eight metric tons of the plastic that end up in our waterways and oceans every year.

Entire islands of plastic are floating in our oceans. Seabirds and sea turtles are victims of the plastic straws that find their way into the poor creatures’ nostrils and respiratory systems.

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Just Moms STL, a community advocacy group working to bring awareness and solutions for the West Lake Landfill nuclear waste issues,  published a press release about the Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley ‘s decision concerning Republic Services responsibility at the Bridgeton/West Lake Landfill site.

Below, we have included the Just Moms STL’s full release. The West Lake Landfill and Coldwater Creek in North St. Louis County is a regional issue. Communities and citizens should in the entire region should be aware of and understand the dangers and risks the tons of illegally dumped nuclear waste pose to the area.

“This site will never have a perfect solution and resident vigilance is needed now more than ever,” says Dawn Chapman. “We must ensure that nothing changes at this site and that all instituted controls are effective and in working order. This community could be at risk if even one system fails. We look towards our elected officials and St. Louis County to help us with this task.”

Read the full release below.

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The latest “State of the Air” report reveals St. Louis region still receives poor grades for air quality.

The region may no longer be among top 25 most polluted cities, but ozone pollution levels still indicate air pollution concerns in the St. Louis area and nationwide, with more than 40 percent of Americans living with unhealthy air

May 1 marked the return of daily air quality forecasting by the Clean Air Partnership to keep area residents informed as to whether the air we breathe is in a healthy “green” range, unhealthy “red” range, or somewhere in between.  If the latest data from the American Lung Association’s (ALA) recently released 2018 “State of the Air” report is any indication of what to expect this year, the region once again needs to be prepared for a mix of conditions and the potential for many days of unhealthy ozone levels.

See where St. Louis area counties rank on the air quality listing below.

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Picture courtesy James Kramper, National Weather Service.

As climate change continues to disrupt weather patterns and seasonality across the U.S. and the world, a new study from the University of Missouri suggests weather forecasts will remain predictable.

This is good news for those worried local weather news meteorologist will no longer be able to predict raging weather patterns that produce life and property-threatening issues, like tornados, blizzards, extreme flooding and severe lightning storms.

Take a few minutes and check out the MIZZU information and video on the new study HERE.